The King of Antimicrobial and Detoxification Effects: Garlic

These days most people have heard about Kimchi, the fermented napa cabbage which is a traditional Korean dish. It gained more fame with the COVID pandemic due to a study which found that the active compounds in Kimchi may be responsible for lower incidence, manifestation severity, and death rate from COVID in Korea. The study also looked at other East Asia and African countries in the vicinity of the Sahara Desert with low death rates from the COVID infection. Most of these countries except for Australia and New Zealand were found to consume fermented vegetables like Kimchi or a significant amount of various spices. According to the study, active compounds like sulforaphane (from napa cabbage), allicin (from garlic), capsaicin (from hot pepper), gingerol (from ginger) and other nutritional compounds and lactobacillus bacteria that result from fermentation interact with the Nrf2 antioxidant system inside our body to remove harmful free radicals that arise from COVID infection. These nutritional compounds were also found to reduce the activity of TRP channel which alleviated the inflammation related to COVID.       

Although this post is starting to sound like a discussion on Kimchi, the focus is actually on garlic, which is one of the main ingredients that go into the Kimchi. Garlic is a beneficial food and a medicine. It may already be well-known that it has strong antimicrobial and detoxification effects (especially works well as an antidote for lead poisoning) and reduces the cholesterol level to prevent and treat atherosclerosis which can be a cause of high blood pressure and coronary artery disease. In addition, it has an antiplatelet effect which inhibits blood coagulation and the formation of blood clots. Both of these facts mean that garlic can be beneficial for cardiovascular health. Outside of those actions, garlic has other various effects such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiaging, and hypoglycemic (reducing blood sugar level) effects.

However, even garlic with such numerous benefits must be cautioned for some people. It was said in historical Chinese medicine texts, that “a person with Heat in Lungs and Stomach, Fire in Liver and Kidney, and Deficiency of Qi and Blood should not even touch it with their lips.” Also, for a person who has Deficient Heat which manifests due to the lack of the Water that can put out the Fire inside their body (this Fire is natural and needed in our body but it must always be balanced by Water), garlic is like a poison on them as it will pump up the Fire and boil away what remaining Water (or Blood) they have. People with Deficient Heat will have symptoms like red face/malar flush, tidal fever which creeps up in the afternoon, dry mouth, constipation with dry stool, and a sensation of stuffiness or heat in the chest.

Effective compounds within garlic are volatile and are lost when garlic is cooked. This is why it is generally recommended that garlic be consumed raw. However, chronic gastritis and peptic ulcer patients should not have them raw because garlic can irritate the gastric mucous membrane and increase stomach acid secretion, therefore worsening the conditions. Garlic is also not recommended for eye stye/hordeolum, conjunctivitis, and other eye diseases. Even for people without these conditions, raw garlic can be quite strong in its taste and stimulation. The best way to reduce its spiciness while maintaining its active compounds is pickling the raw garlic.

It is the end of October, and most gardeners should have harvested their garlic and cured (dried) it if they haven’t already replanted it for the next year. They are easy to raise according to a garlic farmer and the best part is that the biggest bulbs out of the bunch can be replanted year after year, to keep one going. Why not have a go at raising our own garlic as it is a wonderful food all in all!